1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to systems and methods for generating musical pitches and, more particularly, to systems and methods for employing a modular keyboard assembly. The present invention relates to an electronic musical keyboard performance system that both flexible in configuration and more easily transported.
2. Description of Related Art
A major change in technology for keyboard musicians has been the introduction of electronic keyboards. This has allowed musicians to carry their instruments to the performance venue as opposed to only being able to play venues that had pianos, organs or other acoustic keyboard instruments set up. While a typical electronic key-board is more portable than a piano, it is still dimensioned rather awkwardly. It cannot for instance be carried on an airplane being far too long.
There have been a number of patents addressing this issue. They all involve splitting the keyboard along its length into smaller sections. These then can be made to fold upon one another or to separate completely. They differ mainly in the specification of the means for connection, the signal bus, the functionality included and how that functionality is distributed in the system. There is now some prior art on the means for connection of keyboard modules. Some have specified that the keyboard never completely separates but is rather collapsed into a folded position. Others have sections which separate and are specific about the alignment of the separate sections in order to join them into a single, rigid, and strong keyboard or about some other aspect of the keyboard such as the communication of data between modules. Some have specified that sound generation and other functions be incorporated into the keyboard modules.
Some of the issues regarding the means for connection are alignment, structural integrity, limitations on manufactured tolerances, and the distribution of large stresses that can develop at the joint. A keyboard instrument used by a performing musician will need to be transported, setup, banged on, and packed up many times. Musicians have the experience of single piece keyboards not holding up well to this. They are quite correctly wary of keyboards that are in multiple pieces.
On the issue of alignment, the keyboard modules must join in a tight alignment with the tolerance in spacing between the keys across the join around 0.2 mm, (the spacing being about 1 mm). This separation must be maintained while the musician is playing the keyboard and perhaps leaning his or her weight on it. The keyboard will typically be supported by a keyboard stand on the ends and the middle section will then feel a force of the total keyboard weight plus the force applied by the performer leveraged by the distance from the join to the support. That distance can be about 80 cm. If the keyboard is held in this way and the musician plays it with vigorous force or even leans all his or her weight on the keyboard it should not bend or break. A design that has this bending torque countered by a short alignment plug and latch will find the latch can have as much as a ton of force applied to it under the load of a man leaning all his weight on the center off the keyboard.
The separation of the keyboard into modules that produce no sound might require some inter module communication that can carry information on key press velocity from each module to a generator of musical tones corresponding to the key and velocity. In U.S. Patent Application 20050241467 a modular keyboard with a bus that connects the modules includes separate dedicated lines to each single key switch. This idea is not very practical as the number of key switches is 2 per key and there can be 88 keys.
The prior art includes connecting a data bus across two modules by combining a male connector on one module to join to a female on the other (U.S. Pat. No. 6,875,913). This has the disadvantage of that under condition of relative movement between the two modules this male/female type connection would be directly stressed. This will lead to early failure of the electrical connector.
A further problem with current keyboard systems in general is the tendency to integrate more and more features into the keyboard. This is not a problem per se as it lowers the cost per feature when one wants all the features. The problem is that one may want only a subset of the features and that some of the features may not be satisfactory in quality for some uses. One is forced into a compromise of buying what one does not want. Also when any part of the keyboard wears out or becomes obsolete an entire system must be replaced. Many of the most expensive parts of the system might still be fine. So perhaps one key of the keyboard stops working. Either replacing the whole keyboard or sending the whole keyboard off for repair are both unappealing
Typical of current stage keyboards is that it is difficult for the musician to find a keyboard that both has good key action and just that functionality that is needed. For instance, they may end up buying a keyboard with expensive sound generation capability but never use it as they have other sound generation devices that they prefer including virtual instruments running on a general purpose personal computer, (PC).
A number keyboards fold about some axis. These are all distinguished from keyboards comprised of detachable modules. The advantage of a modular over a folding design is twofold. One the modules can be transported separately as lighter parts, (keyboards can weigh up to 70 lbs or more) and two the hinges are a point of great stress and must be made exceedingly strong.